Is Therapy Making Us Crazy? Abigail Shrier on what's really driving the "mental health crisis" among young people.

The Unspeakable Podcast

Meghan Daum

Society & Culture

4.8 • 784 Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week’s guest is journalist Abigail Shrier. In her new book, Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren’t Growing Up, she delves into why so many children, teens, and young adults have received mental health diagnoses over the last few decades. Is it because society is finally recognizing emotional suffering? Or is it because society has become irrationally fixated on the idea of suffering? Abigail says it’s the latter, and in this conversation, she talks about how mediocre clinicians, flawed research, overzealous prescribing of medications, and, above all, a cultural obsession with trauma and emotional injury are causing unnecessary misery.

GUEST BIO

Abigail Shrier’s new book is the best-selling Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren’t Growing Up. She is also the author of the best-selling 2020 book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, which was named a “Best Book” by the Economist and the Times of London and has been translated into ten languages.

She holds an A.B. from Columbia College, where she received the Euretta J. Kellett Fellowship; a B.Phil. from the University of Oxford; and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

You can pick up a copy of Bad Therapy here.

Read Abigail’s Substack here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Megan. Before we get to the episode, I want to tell you about the latest development for my
0:04.9	project, The Unspeak Easy. It's called the Unspeak Easy School of Thought. As you probably know,
0:10.9	the Unspeakies' flagship offerings were in-person retreats and an online community for women.
0:16.4	Those are not going anywhere. But beginning in April, we'll be offering courses for everyone with an
0:22.2	emphasis on intellectual curiosity, artistry over identity, humor, and of course, nuance. We're kicking
0:29.7	things off with three writing courses, a fiction workshop taught by novelist Chaley Widger,
0:35.2	a script writing workshop taught by Hollywood veteran Sam Wolfson,
0:39.2	and a memoir and personal essay workshop taught by legendary author Sherman Alexi.
0:44.9	Now, that class will focus on a genre I Just Invented, the cancellation story,
0:50.9	which can mean anything from getting canceled professionally to losing your best friend
0:55.8	over politics. You don't need to have written anything yet. That's what the workshop is for.
1:01.3	Sherman's classic novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian, has sold millions of copies
1:06.9	worldwide and is taught in thousands of classrooms every year. Sherman also knows a thing or two
1:12.5	about being canceled, which you might have heard about if you listen to my recent unspeakable
1:17.5	podcast interview with him. This is an incredible opportunity to study with amazing teachers.
1:23.5	So if you're interested, go to the unspeakeezy.com, pull down the school of thought menu,
1:28.5	and find out how to apply.
1:30.1	Classes begin the week of April 15th.
1:32.5	They take place on Zoom, and the application deadline is April 8th.
1:36.5	We'd love to hear from you.
1:41.7	Having someone to talk to when you feel alone in the world is undeniably a good thing, right?
1:48.5	The question is, is having someone who is not just a friend or not just supportive, but suggesting, actually, you may have a mental health diagnosis. Let's talk. You sound a little
	...

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